The deficit commission: what, if anything, might it achieve? The stimulus: what, if anything, has it achieved?

Obama's war on terror: overlooked progress?

The climate change debate: what's the lesson?

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Send to a friendThe deficit commission: what, if anything, might it achieve? The stimulus: what, if anything, has it achieved?Obama\'s war on terror: overlooked progress? The climate change debate: what\'s the lesson?

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What can we learn from the deficit commission, the recovery act, the war on terrorists, and climate change? There is no credit in politics for saves. Saving money, saving jobs, saving lives, and saving our planet are each noble aspirations but achieving them piecemeal is a nearly thankless task. Still must be done, but baseball fans can tell you, almost all of us would prefer to see a slugger than a relief pitcher.

On the deficit commission: President Obama's panel can offer an educational description of the choices we have made and a sobering prescription for the choices we need to make. But no commission or elected official can do what we as a country don't have the courage to do. Blaming commissions or Congresses is easy - taking our own personal responsibility is hard.

On the stimulus: today is a time for commemorating the Recovery Act anniversary: Democrats in Congress brought the economy back from the brink and saved jobs while Republican hypocrites voted no and took the dough - see video: Can't have it both ways, folks.

On President Obama's war on terrorists: the Obama administration deserves credit for its relentless pursuit of al qaeda. The latest successes from the Af-Pak region remind us that we need to wield hard and soft power to succeed. While pundits debate loudly from places of relative safety, our military, intelligence, and law enforcement personnel work tirelessly below the radar in harm's way to keep us safe and free.

On climate change: the lesson is that the Middle East oil supplies remain volatile and neither China nor India are waiting to promote renewables, so America should promote energy independence for national security, economic, and environmental reasons. Now more than ever, a carbon tax to tax what you burn, not what you earn, would propel us into a competitive, clean energy future.

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